At Autoshippers, we are proud of our motorbike shipping & crating process. Our team has well over 20 years’ of experience in shipping all types of vehicles overseas including scooters, motorbikes and more. Our warehouse is often a “who’s who” of classic and high-value bikes and every so often we film these bikes being crated to show our customers, step-by-step, exactly how their beloved motorbikes are handled and prepared for shipping overseas. Here are a few of our favourite motorbike shipments (with videos included) for you to enjoy.
Ariel Square Four
We begin with this black Ariel Square Four. Our customer contacted us as they had purchased this fantastic example of British motorcycling history and wanted to ship it to Australia. They had arranged the Vehicle Import Permit, which is a must for shipping vehicles into Australia, and was recommended to us by a friend.
This video goes into a lot of detail as to the crating process, this has been fine-tuned over time and we do all we can to ensure your motorbike is safely secured for shipping.
All shipping crates are individually built to the exact measurements of each bike, and are packed by our professional packing team. All wood used is ISPM15 compliant, meaning it can be used for international transport.
Your bike is positioned onto a solid, machine base, wooden floor with 3” x 4” runners. The kick-stand and wheels are then secured to the base using wooden chocks which are screwed into place, to prevent movement via shipping.
We use 90mm hex head steel screws, making sure that all wooden chocks remain in place, and add polystyrene sheeting to further protect the bike.
High-tenacity polyester ratchet straps are used to secure your motorbike to the base of the crate, and these are also chocked into place using ISPM15-compliant wooden chocks and 90mm hex head steel screws.
The straps have a breaking strain of 500-800kgs.
Wooden side panels are then secured to the base, using 70mm hex head steel screws and, where necessary, extra padding is added to protect your bike (for example on handlebars) Your motorbike is then covered in clear plastic for even more protection.
Padded timber supports are secured along the top of the crate, for extra structural support, before the top of the crate is secured using 70mm hex head steel screws.
Finally, markings are added to the outside of the crate for identification purposes, the crate is strap banded with a security seal attached ready for shipping.
Honda RC213V-S
If you know your motorbikes, the very mention of the name Honda RC213V-S would make you stop what you are doing immediately and take notice. You can imagine how excited we were when we were contacted by our customer, after again being recommended to us, to ship one of these legendary motorbikes to Hong Kong. Numbered 007 of 250, with less than 1KM on the clock, this was cheap even at the eye-watering price that was paid (which we won’t disclose).
From the time it arrived into our warehouse, this motorbike was treated with the usual kid-gloves, and garnered more attention than usual from our car and bike mad team.
As you’re probably aware, the Honda RC213V was developed to compete in the MotoGP series, and the Honda RC213V-S was a limited-production run of a road-going version, introduced in 2015. Honda claims that the RC213V-S shares 80% of its parts with the original MotoGP version, and the European models rev to 12,000rpm with an optional power kit increasing it to 14,000rpm!
The video shows the crating process for the bike, but we also crated the original metal crate (which wasn’t suitable for shipping) and a 1m square crate of original parts. If you have spares, or other items to ship with your motorbike, such as panniers, we can either pack in the same crate as the bike, or crate/palletise separately for transport.
Lambretta TV175
We also have bookings for scooters and smaller motorbikes and these are crated and shipped in the same way. These can be just as eye-catching as the larger bikes, such as this 1961 Lambretta TV175, and so cause as much of a stir on arrival into our warehouse.
Along with Vespa, manufactured in Italy by Piaggio, Lambretta is the most famous name in scooter history. Also manufactured originally in Italy by Innocenti, these stylish bikes owe their initial design concept to pre-World War II American-manufactured 3-wheeled Cushman scooters.
Our customer had both this Lambretta TV175 and a 1957 Vespa GS150 to ship to the USA and, after previously shipping a 1962 Vespa GS150 with us, contacted Autoshippers to arrange the shipping, including collecting from the seller.
The scooters were crated separately, again along with some other items in another separate crate, but shipped on the same Bill of Lading meaning that they sail on the same vessel and our customer only has one Customs clearance in the UK and the USA. This saves on the total cost so if you have more than one motorbike to ship it is the most cost-effective for them to ship at the same time even if they are crated separately.
Vincent Black Shadow & Flying Squirrel
Another of our recent favourites is this 1949 Vincent Black shadow. Once again, this customer had two bikes to ship and opted to book with Autoshippers. Along with the Black Shadow, they had a 1936 Scott “Flying Squirrel”, which you can see pictured below. The bikes were collected by us, and crated separately, although again for cost-effectiveness they were shipped on the same Bill of Lading.
Once again a British classic, the Vincent Black Shadow was produced by Vincent H-R-D between 1948 and 1955. Termed as the world’s first superbike by American author Hunter S.Thompson, the Vincent Black Shadow’s 998cc engine is capable of a top speed of 125mph. Thompson is actually quoted as saying “If you rode the Vincent Black Shadow at top speed for any length of time, you would almost certainly die”. Phew!
Produced between 1926 and 1940, The Scott Flying Squirrel has a slightly more sedate top speed of 70mph. Yet another British classic, the Flying Squirrel has a water-cooled, two-cylinder, two-stroke engine, and is noted for its acceleration developing more power at lower speeds than some four-stroke models.
Both of these motorbikes were crated and shipped to Australia, with a box of spares that we managed to fit inside one of the crates meaning that they, in effect, travelled for “free”!
Motorbike Shipping
For more details on shipping motorbikes with Autoshippers, take a look at our dedicated Motorbike Shipping web page. This has an idea of current port to port shipping costs, along with details of other motorbike shipper services such as airfreight or Ro-Ro (although these services don’t always operate to all destinations)
There are also more Motorbike Shipping Videos on our website, along with on our YouTube page, which you can find on this link. Stop by and subscribe so that we can continue to share our favourite motorbikes with you.
If you would like a quotation, then please fill out the form on this page. You can also contact us on +44 117 982 8123 or 0800 389 0784 or fill out our contact form. We can arrange to collect from anywhere in the UK, or you can deliver directly to our warehouse. We can offer marine insurance cover, via our specialist brokers, to give you complete peace of mind whilst shipping your motorbike.
We’d love to hear from you, whether you’ve got a 1960’s scooter, a replica MotoGP bike, a classic British icon, or some other pride and joy that you need to ship from the UK in the safest and most secure way possible.
